Archive for the ‘Ritz Carlton’ Category

It’s less than a month to Christmas and the Christmas feels are going strong! To fully enjoy the festive season, you have to start celebrating and indulging now, and not just on the 25th of December! Here are 12 places to enjoy a Christmas-themed Afternoon Tea in Singapore, to get you into the festive mood. Here’s a tip, afternoon tea is usually cheaper than going for festive buffet lunches or dinners, so you get to enjoy more for less $$$!! Now that’s a reason to celebrate.

A very Happy New Year to all readers of 365days2play Lifestyle, Food and Travel blog! Hope your new year has been off to a great start! Here’s wishing you good health, happiness and an even more exciting 2017 to come!

Speaking of exciting, I thought it fitting as my 1st post for 2017 to blog about a really fantastic meal I had in 2016. As the title of this post reveals, its our anniversary which we celebrated at the one Michelin-starred restaurant Summer Pavilion. It’s the 1st time we formally celebrated it after being married for 4 years! Can you believe that? In some circles, that would be grounds for divorce! But truth be told, Christmas is the occasion that we spend our efforts celebrating (with family and all), that by the time 29th December comes along, it doesn’t feel as if we need yet another celebration.

Nevertheless, I was really happy to be able to have the opportunity to celebrate our anniversary. Even though I have dined at quite a number of posh restaurants, I hadn’t been to Summer Pavilion before, and it has been more than 2 years since I was last at Ritz Carlton, so the whole experience was very exciting! It did help that the Christmas decorations were still up, and the hotel looked so pretty! The stark black and white tableware set up also exuded refinement and was like a prelude of good things to come.

You know you’re in for a treat when even the soya sauce looks like an art work.

We opted for the Lily Dinner Set. Yes, they were able to serve that during lunch (I’d checked when I made reservations). I can certainly see why they managed to obtain the coveted Michelin Star. The 5 main criteria that the Michelin inspectors look out for are as follows:

Quality of the products

Mastery of flavour and cooking techniques

The personality of the chef in his cuisine

Value for money

Consistency between visits

While I can’t comment on point 3 and 5, I can certainly state that with the exception of dessert, all the dishes we were served that day wowed us. Dessert tasted good too, except there wasn’t any wow factor. As for value for money, at $88++ per pax, I think that you could possibly find a handful of Chinese restaurants in Singapore that might be able to match this standard for a lower price tag, if you look hard enough. For hotel restaurants, Yan Ting of St Regis or Wan Hao of Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel come to mind, but they aren’t very much cheaper either. Lei Garden or Crystal Jade Golden Palace may be cheaper too, but guess what, they’re also Michelin Starred restaurants!

One thing that the Michelin inspectors don’t value is ambience and decor. But I do. Ambience, decor, service and how comfortable I feel dining in a restaurant are all important factors to me when it comes to enjoying a meal out. If it were just the quality and taste of food, home cooking would have sufficed!

Recently, I was invited to sample the new Winter Afternoon Tea menu at Ritz Carlton. As you may already know, I hold the Afternoon Tea at Ritz Carlton in high regard. Ritz Carlton was one of the 1st few places where I first cut my teeth in food blogging. Wow, come to think of it, it has been 2.5 years! I recall I was so mesmerized by the creative display of desserts that I even split my blog post into 2 posts so that I could post more food pictures! I would have returned sooner, but having a blog meant that I also wanted to try out new places so as to be able to have more blog material. It’s been too long….too long.

I was told that Ritz Carlton changes the Afternoon Tea menu 4 times a year to suit the season. The day that I was there was the launch of the Winter Weekend Afternoon Tea. Available at Chihuly Lounge from 24 November 2012 to 24 February 2013, Executive Pastry Chef Terence Pang has created thirteen unique variations such as Sesame Nougat with Yuzu, Pistachio and Nougat Crème and Caramelized Chocolate Mousse with Parfait etc.

Almond Cake with Caramel

Guests may also dine upon an assortment of sandwiches, scones and other savory dishes such as Maple Glazed Prosciutto wrapped Scallop and Sesame and Cajun Spiced Prawn Kebab with Glazed Pineapple.

What’s afternoon tea without tea, right? You can enjoy a range of over thirty blends of loose leaf teas from the Ronnefeldt tea collection featuring citrus-flavoured teas such as Morning Star and Roibosh lemon. Flavoured black teas – “Wild Cherries”and“Rose Tea with Petals”,are as refreshing as fruit-infused “Raspberry Royal”and“Strawberries with Yoghurt”teas. The most interesting thing about Ritz Carlton’s tea is that they put the teapots over a lighted burner! First hotel that I’ve come across that does this, and kudos to them for doing so because I just hate having to drink cold tea! And the tea will invariably become cold because it’s a huge pot!

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Damn delicious! It wasn’t all just fudge, but had layers of actual cake. Not cloying (jelak) at all!

Recently, a friend asked for my suggestion as to the best place to have afternoon tea in Singapore. Specifically the English Afternoon Tea type, where she and her girly pals could giggle and gossip over pots of tea and unlimited dainty sandwiches. Three choices immediately came to mind, but it was quite hard to whittle it down to the top choice! And it really depends on personal preference in the end, but here are my top choices for the best English Afternoon High Tea places in Singapore. Click on the titles to go to the full posts.

L’Espresso is my number 1 choice as it really is the best all rounder. There are lots of dainty finger sandwiches and canapes to choose from, all so delicious looking that I am seriously considering making a reservation this weekend as I type now. There’s a huge variety of cakes to choose from too. And most unique of all, there is free flow of Haagen Dazs vanilla ice cream. This last factor is my weak spot! The one downside though, is that L’Espresso does not provide clotted cream with its scones.

These 2 are sister hotels. I’ve only been to the afternoon tea buffet at Fullerton Hotel, but you get the exact same thing at Fullerton Bay Hotel too. At Fullerton Hotel, they first serve you a 3 tiered tray of scones, sandwiches and desserts. If you need 2nd helpings, or 5th helpings for that matter, the staff will top up your tray with the desired items. Fullerton scores very highly on my list because of its super delicious scones and generous serving of clotted cream! Also, the posh setting and huge velvety blue armchairs really make you feel like a tai tai. Let’s just hope someone else is paying the bill.

The afternoon tea at Chihuly Lounge also gets my thumbs up for serving up really creative dishes. You have to check out the decorations of the desserts in my previous post. Apparently the designs change frequently. The chefs are amazing! Afternoon tea at the Chihuly Lounge gives you the best of both worlds, it had dainty sandwiches, fried stuff like small spring rolls, samosas, and the European type desserts. Alas, once again, no clotted cream and the scones were blah. I’m afraid if you want good scones at a buffet, it seems quite an impossibility apart from the ones at Fullerton Hotel.

There you have it, my top 3 suggestions for good English afternoon high tea places. Anyone can be a tai tai for a day. Wait, everyone DESERVES to be pampered like a tai tai for a day, be it a man or a woman! Just eat $2.50 mixed rice for the next 5 days!

After having eaten my way through so many scones in Singapore, I think it is fitting that I should perhaps do a compilation of all the places I have been to have scones in Singapore. Click on the links for an in-depth review the respective cafes/restaurants. I shall rate only the top 5 scones places.

Regent Hotel’s scones are also damn good. The best part about Fullerton Hotel and Regent Hotel’s scones is that not only are the scones good in their own right, they also provide clotted cream! You’re missing out if you haven’t tried scones with clotted cream!